Professional Development

Professional Development

At the heart of professional learning there is a dynamic relationship between learners and the staff’s professional learning; these are deeply interconnected. The staff professional learning should be informed by the learner’s experience, voice and needs. In turn, that professional learning, should be informed by relevant professional standards and research of evidenced based approaches. As with all professional learning, it is vital that staff are mindful that it should take account of and reflect the unique circumstances of the learning community and those involved in it.

Renfrewshire Council is committed to supporting all staff who work with our learners to gain, maintain and refresh standards, knowledge, and skills necessary to perform their role effectively in a complex, dynamic, and rapidly changing society.

To attain and achieve their full potential, learners require new, innovative, and diverse teaching inputs relevant to each learners’ lived experience. Therefore, our staff need to be critically informed, be aware of the need to actively develop their professional values and knowledge and take actions that ensure that their practice has a positive impact on learners and learning.

Heads of establishments therefore need to develop, support, and maintain a culture of collegiate and collaborative working within their learning communities and ensure all staff (teaching, non-teaching and support staff) have access to appropriate professional learning. 

For teaching staff, the National Model of Professional Learning supports teachers identify their own priorities for learning and development through reflection against the GTCS Standards, based on high quality self-evaluation.

Our capacity for improvement is enhanced through our reflective practitioners who engage with a range of approaches to professional learning. These include:

·   Undertaking action research

·   Collaborative practitioner enquiry

·   Peer observation

·   Observation of learning

·   Professional dialogue and debate

·   Sharing good practice within and across establishments

·   Utilising digital and online resources, including the National Improvement Hub

Underpinning all of the strategies contained within The Renfrewshire Way, sits the need for high quality continuous professional learning for all of our staff – delivered by internal or external expertise. A programme of internal support for the implementation of the Renfrewshire Way has been developed, which includes opportunities to learn about all aspects touched upon, to support the highest quality of learning and teaching across Renfrewshire.